Hamilton claims Sepang pole, luckless Vettel to start from back of grid

Lewis Hamilton enjoyed a dream qualifying session at the Malaysian Grand Prix, taking pole position as main championship rival Sebastian Vettel failed to set a time in Sepang owing to an engine issue.

Vettel, whose retirement in Singapore last time out left him 28 points behind Hamilton in the standings, was unable to complete a lap in Q1 on Saturday and will therefore start from the back of the grid.

To make matters worse for Vettel, Hamilton took full advantage of the Ferrari driver's misfortune by claiming his fifth pole in Malaysia - matching the record of Michael Schumacher.

A lap of one minute and 30.076 seconds put the Mercedes man at the head of the grid, with neither Hamilton nor Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen able to improve on that time in their final laps.